Children's Allergies

I took James to the allergist today because of his hives.  They tested him for plenty of foods (top 8, spices, grains, corn, tomatoes) and enviro/seasonal allergies.

Positive were: Sunflower seeds, Grapes, Cats (minimal category 1) and cows

Negative were: milk, wheat, all grains, all nuts, peanuts, dust, dogs, horses, all molds, all pollens, all weeds and whatever else he was tested for...

We're going to do a RAST and check the positives, nuts, peanuts, and sesame seeds.

For the moment, we're avoiding sunflower seeds and grapes.  I have to contact the manufacturers and find out if grape flavoring is used in vitamins, candy, popsicles etc.

Anne

OK I'll ask why did you test him for cows?  DO you have cows? Do you regularly interact with cows?? (Ok sorry you know I had to ask)

And grape is in a ton of stuff!  Good luck!  And don't feel discouraged know that you can have a negative test and still be allergic so if you notice a reaction then it's a positive ....

Katrina

Cows were part of the animal panel (dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, cows, guinea pigs and something else).

I asked to have cats, dogs and horses tested because we have a cat and dogs.  Also, when we were at the state fair, James' asthma kept flaring.  We had to give him 4 treatments while we were there.  I couldn't figure out why because he wasn't sick, his asthma had been fine the day before, the weather was in the 60's.  We were in the horse area because DD was competing in the 4H dog show.  I thought it was the horses, barn (hay, dust) or dogs.  The wind was blowing from the livestock area, so it seems to have been the cows.

It was an accidental discovery, but the SPT rxn was the largest of his positives. 

We used to live in a rural area surrounded by farms & cows.  I guess he was sensitized then.  His asthma was very bad back then, but we didn't make the connection.

Anne